An enthralling and atmospheric follow-up to Suzy Aspley’s critically acclaimed mystery Crow Moon. Book two in the Martha Strangeways Investigation series, set in the fictional Scottish village of Strathbran.

THE BONE MOTHER by SUZY ASPLEY

The chilling, critically acclaimed Martha Strangeways series continues, as shocking murders draw Martha into a world of rituals, secrecy and death – and a killer determined to protect their beliefs at any cost…

Martha Strangeways has settled into a quiet life in Strathbran, after the horrific events that traumatised the village a year earlier. But all this is turned upside down when her friend at Glasgow CID, DI Derek Summers, calls on her to help with a disturbing case: a human ear, with an unusual Celtic earring, has been found next to a railway line in the Highlands.
And when the body of a young woman wearing matching jewellery turns up at a landmark church shortly after, the mystery deepens. Why has she been laid out in a ritualistic fashion? Does her trek along the little-known Cailleach Way have anything to do with her death? And who is running the Facebook Group where she posted details of her journey to the shrine of the Bone Mother goddess?
As Martha tries to unpick the threads, she finds herself entwined with a ghost from her own past, and in conflict with the owner of a project that threatens to destroy the goddess’s sacred land.
With Halloween approaching, and someone determined to protect the goddess at all costs, can Martha and Summers catch the killer before they strike again – and this time much closer to home…?

THE BONE MOTHER is BOOK TWO of the #MarthaStrangewaysMysteries and is packed with bones, spooks and investigations into dark things…💀

Richly underpinned with Scottish folklore and gothic themes, and published to coincide with the unsheltering of the Beltane stones – the period when the veil between the human and supernatural worlds is at its thinnest…

PUBLICATION DATE: 7th MAY 2026 PAPERBACK ORIGINAL | £9.99 | ORENDA BOOKS

Preorder and get your very own copy of The Bone Mother by Suzy Aspley – just click on the buy button.

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Without further ado!

What a creepily fantastic cover!

Suzy Aspley deserves all the praise and recognition she is getting for this very accomplished first book and I look forward to reading the next book in the series.

Janet – LoveBooksReadBooks

Well, here comes the next instalment of the Martha Strangeways Mysteries The Bone Mother by Suzy Aspley and doesn’t it look and sound amazing, I think so!

Arriving at all your favourite bookshops on 7th May – I’m so looking forward to reading The Bone Mother – I can hardly wait!

BUY

Preorder and get your very own copy of The Bone Mother by Suzy Aspley – just click on the buy button.

The Author

Suzy Aspley’s Crow Moon was shortlisted for both the Val McDermid Debut Award and the Bloody Scotland Debut Prize, confirming Aspley as a major emerging voice in Scottish crime fiction.

Originally from the north-east of England, former journalist Suzy Aspley has lived in Scotland for almost thirty years. She writes crime and short stories, often inspired by the strange things she sees in the landscape around her. She won Bloody Scotland’s Pitch Perfect in 2019 with the original idea for her debut novel and was shortlisted for the Capital Crime New Voices Award. In 2020, she was mentored by Jo Dickinson as part of the Hachette future bookshelf initiative. Crow Moon was longlisted for the Caledonia Novel Award, and shortlisted for the Val McDermid Debut Award and the Bloody Scotland Debut Prize. When she’s not writing, she’s either got her nose buried in a book, or is outside with her dogs dreaming up more dark stories. She lives in Stirlingshire with her family.